Chapter 13: Mission at Cloud Tower
Hey everyone I'm back with a new chapter. I'm happy to see how excited you were after my last chapter. Now the first part of this chapter came from my buddy Nitro Zeus. Also I have a poll on my profile for what my next story should be so be sure to cast your vote. I hope you like what I have planned. Please Review and Enjoy.
In front of the stables at Red Fountain, Ragnar was walking out in his casual clothes to see Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna and Crystal waiting for him.
"Hey Rangar thanks for meeting up with us." Bloom smiles.
"No problem but why did you ask for just my help?" Ragnar asks.
"We need to know everything we can about dragons, and you seem to know more than anyone else we know." Tecna said.
"Oh well I'm flattered but I really only know what I've learned from working with Toothless." Ragnar shrugs.
"Please, we need your help." Flora said.
"Okay, step inside my workshop." Ragnar said as he opened the stables to reveal all the dragons that he and Toothless found. "Sadly we don't many to work with."
"Whoa." Musa said as she noticed Stormfly.
"Well this is an interesting one." Tecna said looking at Meatlug.
"Where'd you find all these?" Flora asks looking at Barf and Belch.
Bloom looks around and noticed Hookfang. "This one's a little scary."
"Yeah dragons come in all shapes and sizes." Ragnar shrugs as Toothless walks over to Crystal and they nuzzle each other. "So who wants to go first?"
Everyone looks around before Bloom slowly stepped forward.
"Okay, watch me." Ragnar said as he walked towards Bolt causing the girls to gulp.
"Uh Ragnar can't we use another one? That one looks like it wants to eat me." Stella gulps.
"Yeah that one looks really hungry." Bloom gulps.
"Relax Bolt doesn't eat people he eats lamb chops." Ragnar said as he walked to the back and grabbed a piece of meat before walking back. "Here you go buddy."
Handing the piece to Bolt he ate the meat and smiled happily.
"See, he's harmless, watch." Ragnar said holding out his hand to Bolt who slowly walks up and rubs his head against him surprising the girls.
"Whoa." They all said amazed.
Ragnar gestures for Bloom to walk over and when she does he grabs her hand and holds it in front of Bolt. "Now let him come to you."
Bloom held her breath as Bolt sniffed her hand before slowly leaning in and letting her pet him causing Bloom to smile.
"Pretty cool huh?" Ragnar smiles.
"This is…amazing." Bloom smiles.
"That's how he taught me to bond with Crystal." Stella smiles.
"Who else wants to try?" Ragnar asks as they all step up.
Musa slowly walks up to Stormfly and as she sniffs her hand she smiles before letting her pet her.
"Dragons are very loyal, but you gotta be able to earn their trust first." Ragnar explains.
"So how were you able to get Toothless to trust you?" Tecna asks.
"You do not want to know." Ragnar cringed.
"So uh are all these dragons taken?" Flora asks changing the subject.
"I'm afraid most of them are. Stormfly belongs to Sky, Hookfang is Riven's dragon, Meatlug is with Timmy, and Skullcrusher is Brandon's dragon." Ragnar explains.
"Brandon's dragon huh?" Bloom said looking at Skullcrusher. "You must be pretty strong to be with Brandon." She smiles rubbing him causing Skullcrusher to smile.
"So who's left?" Stella asks.
"All I have are Bolt, Barf and Belch and the Snapptrappers from our swamp incident." Ragnar said.
"That's not much to work to with." Bloom said.
"Sorry. I can't let you take them but I can let you borrow them if you want to learn to fly." Ragnar offers.
All of the girls smile liking the sound of that.
Flying through the air, Ragnar was on Toothless, Stella on Crystal, Musa and Tecna on Stormfly, and Bloom and Flora on Skullcrusher.
"This is amazing!" Bloom cheers holding her hands up in the air.
"You fairies may have wings but it's a lot different when you're on a dragon, isn't it?" Ragnar chuckles before having Toothless fly towards Musa who was holding onto Stormfly's saddle for dear life. "Loosen your grip your hands are starting to change color."
"Sorry, this is gonna take some getting used to." Musa said.
"Don't worry you'll get better with more practice." Ragnar said when they looked to see Stella and Crystal flying a loop de loop. "Whoa impressive job Stella."
"Show off." Musa mumbles.
"Wow he sure is different when he's on Toothless than when he's off him." Tecna said.
"Yeah it's kinda cute." Flora giggles.
As they flew over a mountain range, Toothless' ears suddenly perked up alarming him.
"What's wrong buddy?" Ragnar asks when suddenly he roared causing Crystal, Stormfly and Skullcrusher to follow him as he dove towards the mountain range.
"Whoa!" Bloom yelps holding on tight.
"Ragnar what's going on?!" Stella asks.
"I have no idea!" Ragnar yells.
Landing on the rocks, they climbed off the dragons as Toothless' ears perked up as he scanned the area.
"What's he looking for?" Tecna asks.
"Toothless has this ability where he knows where other dragons are. Some must be nearby." Ragnar said when they heard a really loud roar startling all of them.
"Very nearby." Bloom said.
Running along the path they chased after Toothless as they looked over the edge to see Cloudjumper and a green Scauldron were being surrounded by some of Drago's Dragon Hunters.
"Who are those guys?" Ragnar asks quietly.
"What are they doing?" Bloom whispers.
Roaring Cloudjumper tries to fight them off but the Hunters surround him and force him into a large cage causing them all to gasp.
"They're capturing dragons." Flora gasps.
"Get in there you!" Walking up was a man with a royale beard, blue jeans, a black waxed cotton jacket and a black ten-gallon hat. Taking out a taser rod he stabs Cloudjumper making him scream in pain causing Toothless to growl.
"You know that dragon, Toothless?" Ragnar asks as he looked ready to pounce. "I'll take that as a yes."
"We have to stop them." Bloom said as the Hunters forced the Scauldron into the cage as well and took them deeper into the forest.
"Girls you might want to get into your fairy forms just to be safe." Ragnar said drawing his sword.
All of them nod when Ragnar notices all but Stella transforming. "Stella?"
"Uh look they're getting away." Stella points changing the subject.
"Oh no. Come on." Ragnar said as they followed from a distance.
Entering deep into the woods they hid behind some large trees and gasp to see Deadly Nadders, Gronkles, Hobblegrunts and even a few Timberjacks in cages.
"Why would someone do this? It's horrible." Bloom said.
"Look at all those dragons." Tecna said surprised when they heard a loud engine. Looking up they saw a giant orange ship land nearby.
"This isn't good, they're planning on moving the dragons somewhere to be sold or killed." Ragnar said.
"We have to do something." Musa said.
"Agreed. Any ideas?" Flora asks as they all turned to Ragnar.
"Wait why are you all looking at me?" Ragnar asks.
"You're the one with the most experience. How do we save those dragons?" Tecna asks.
"Uh okay uh…" Ragnar pauses. "I got it. First we need to get them away from the cages."
A few minutes later, the Hunters were making final preparations when they suddenly heard a loud roar.
"What the?" Looking up they saw Toothless, Crystal and Skullcrusher flying in.
"More dragons, this day just gets better." The leader grins as they fired multiple blasts of plasma and fire knocking the hunters to the ground before flying around. "Get them!"
As the men chased after the dragons they didn't notice Ragnar, Stella, Bloom and Flora sneaking past them.
Bloom looked to see Cloudjumper roaring in rage trying to get out and ran over. "Easy big guy." Bloom said walking over as Cloudjumper roared at her thinking she was a hunter. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I want to help you."
Cloudjumper stops for a second as he looks into Bloom's eyes.
"Alright deep breath, let him come to you." Bloom said taking a deep breath remembering Ragnar's lessons and held her hand out.
Cloudjumper gasps for a second seeing the same smile Valka had in Bloom. Lowering his head Bloom blasts the lock allowing Cloudjumper to come out of the cage.
As Bloom was about to bond Cloudjumper noticed a hunter sneaking up behind her and throwing a net. Letting out a roar Cloudjumper breathed fire burning the net away before whacking the hunter with his wings.
"Thanks a lot." Bloom smiles as Cloudjumper puts her on his back. "Let's save the others!"
Roaring in agreement, Cloudjumper flapped his 4 wings taking to the sky as Toothless smiles happy to see him again.
"They're breaking the dragons free!" A hunter pointed as they turned to see Ragnar, Stella and Flora fidgeting with the locks.
They were about to attack when Musa and Tecna came out of hiding with Stormfly who flung her tail shooting spikes at them.
"There's more of them!" The leader yells as Ragnar drew his sword and sliced a lock off the cage.
Stella runs over to free some dragons from a cage when the leader spots her. "You!"
Ragnar turns to see him ready with his taser rod heading towards Stella. "Stella look out!"
Ragnar uses his sword to blocks the rod as sparks flew.
He banged his rod against Ragnar's again and again knocking him to the ground near a cage where he saw some Terrible Terrors nearby.
As the leader was about to finish him off Ragnar sweeps his leg knocking him to the ground.
"Don't mess with dragons, they get really pissed off when you treat them like this." Ragnar snaps open the cage and the three Terrible Terrors attack the leader biting him.
Struggling to pull them off the leader pulls off one that was biting his sleeve revealing a tattoo shocking Ragnar as he recognized it.
It was a blue tattoo that had a sword with a shield behind it and a staff and an axe crossed behind it.
"I don't believe it." Ragnar said before shaking it off and aiming his sword at his neck. "It's over. The dragons have overwhelmed your men and the rest have run off. Your little poaching operation ends here."
Instantly the leader burst into laughter. "Kid you have no idea. You think you can stop the Hunt? Nothing stops the hunt." Grabbing some dirt he throws it into Ragnar's eyes blinding him as he kicks him to the ground before he and the rest of his men escape. "You won this battle, but the war has just begun."
As the Winx let out all the dragons, Flora looked to see the green Scauldron huddled in the back of the cage too afraid to move.
"Hey it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." Flora said opening the cage to let it walk out. "It's gonna be okay. I promise." Flora said as the Scauldron slowly sniffed her.
Holding out her hand, Flora held her breath as the Scauldron rubbed its head against her.
"Wow Flora, that's quite a dragon you got there." Ragnar said wiping the dirt out of his eyes. "I think it likes you."
"Thanks but I'm not sure a fire breathing dragon is best to be around my plants." Flora said.
"Actually that's a Scauldron, they breathe water, not fire." Ragnar explains getting her attention.
"Really?" Flora said looking at it with interest.
"You still have to name it." Ragnar said.
"Name? Uh okay how about…Lagoon?" Flora said as the Scauldron smiles liking it.
As Cloudjumper met up with Toothless, Crystal, Stormfly and Skullcrusher happy to see some old friends again before looking to Bloom and nuzzles her.
"Aw I'm happy you're okay too." Bloom smiles.
"That's a pretty cool dragon, Bloom." Musa said.
"Yeah he really is." Bloom smiles.
"Hey Stella, are you okay?" Ragnar asks.
"Yeah I'm alright. Thanks for saving me." Stella smiles.
"No problem but why didn't you fight the guy off? You could've taken him." Ragnar said.
"Actually…no I couldn't." Stella said as she explained what happened with the Trix stealing her ring.
"You're kidding." Ragnar said.
"That's why we needed you to train us to bond with dragons." Bloom said.
"Alright this isn't good. We have to get Stella's ring back." Ragnar said.
"No kidding, but we don't know anything about Cloud Tower. It would take forever to search the whole school for it." Tecna said when Rangar realized something.
"Wait, so you're saying if you had someone who knew their way around Cloud Tower you could get Stella's ring back?" Ragnar asks.
"Yes but we don't." Musa said.
"What if we did?" Ragnar asks getting their attention.
"What do you mean?" Stella asks.
"I mean…life's funny sometimes." Ragnar admits.
"Oh my god you know someone in Cloud Tower." Flora said.
"What?" Stella and Bloom said surprised.
"Well, she's not like the Trix alright. She's different." Ragnar said as everyone looked at him demanding an explanation. "A few weeks ago, I found Bolt at Cloud Tower and this witch named Mirta helped me sneak through the school unnoticed and bring him back to Red Fountain."
"You let a witch guide you to a dragon?" Stella asks.
"Hey just because the Trix are bad witches doesn't mean all witches are bad." Ragnar said.
"Ragnar please, we need to get into Cloud Tower, or Stella will never get her powers back." Bloom begs.
Looking at all their faces Ragnar sighs as he took out his phone. "Let me see if she can help."
At Cloud Tower, Mirta was in her room studying with Lucy when her phone rings. Looking at the Caller ID, she stands up.
"You going somewhere?" Lucy asks.
"Just got a call from home." Mirta said walking out of the door. "This is a surprise. What's up Ragnar?"
"Mirta I need your help. Icy, Stormy and Darcy stole something very important from a friend of mine." Ragnar said.
"Icy, Stormy and Darcy? Ragnar this is serious. If they find out they could trace it back to me and I could be expelled." Mirta said.
"Mirta please, I know this is a big favor, but you're the only one who can help them." Ragnar begs.
Knowing she could never turn down a friend in need Mirta let out a sigh. "Tell them to come tonight when everyone is asleep."
"I will." Ragnar nods before hanging up and turning to the Winx. "She'll help."
"Thanks Ragnar, for everything." Musa smiles.
"Don't thank me yet. You guys have to find the ring first. Toothless and I have to make sure all these dragons are okay." Ragnar said gesturing to the caged dragons they set free. "I'm sorry but this is as much help as I can give."
"It's more than enough, thank you." Bloom said as Ragnar smiles before Cloudjumper, Lagoon and Crystal carried the Winx away.
"Good luck." Ragnar said before he climbed on Toothless who growled chuckling. "Hey, there is no need for name-calling."
That night at Cloud Tower, the Trix were floating around Stella's ring reciting a chant when suddenly the ring caused a small explosion to go off knocking all three of them to the ground.
"Ow my nose." Darcy groans.
"We have to cast a Safety Shield spell immediately." Stormy groans when the cabinet opens to reveal Knut.
"What's going on?" Knut asks.
"We shall be as we once were, there was no explosion. No explosion." Stormy casts causing Knut to go back to bed.
"It cannot be! Stupid ring where is all your energy?!" Icy growls.
"Stella's ring may be powerful, but not enough." Darcy said.
"As if that little thing could hold the power of the Dragon." Stormy said.
"BE QUIET!" Icy roars. "After all I went through to get this ring, I will not be talked to like that. Stupid fairies, this ring is useless!" Grabbing the ring, Icy threw it across the room. "The power of the Dragon's Flame will be ours."
Down below at the entrance to Cloud Tower, Bloom, Stella, Musa, Tecna and Flora came out of hiding.
"Ragnar said his friend Mirta would meet up here." Bloom recalls.
"But what does she even look like?" Tecna asks when a small hidden passage opened nearby and Mirta popped her head out to look around.
"I'm gonna guess, that's her." Stella points as they walked over.
"Uh Mirta?" Bloom said startling her. "It's okay, we're Ragnar's friends."
"Oh phew. Thank goodness, come on we gotta move fast." Mirta said leading them inside the passage before closing the entrance.
"What is this?" Musa asks.
"A secret passage that we were trained to know in case the school was ever under attack." Mirta explains.
"Hey Mirta how do you know Ragnar?" Stella asks.
"Well I met him in Magix when a bunch of other witches were ganging up on him. And when we sat down and talked we realized we had a lot in common. People call him the Worst Specialist while others call me the Worst Witch." Mirta said surprising them. "People say I'm too nice to be a witch."
"What's wrong with that? It means you get to make more friends." Bloom said.
"Funny, Ragnar said the same thing." Mirta smiles.
"Something tells me you might have some competition." Tecna whispers to Stella.
"What?" Stella turns to her causing the girls to giggle as they kept walking.
Up in the Trix's room, Knut was sweeping up the floor while the girls were in their normal clothing.
"They make a mess and I have to clean. I'm telling you a bomb explosion would have been less messy." Knut complains.
"Is there a problem Knut?" Icy asks appearing behind him.
"Uh no just thinking of getting you a present like a vacuum." Knut said.
"Finish cleaning and join us in the woods." Icy said as she waved her hand in front of the mirror and a secret passage opened up.
"And make it snappy." Darcy said as she and Stormy followed Icy leaving Knut all by himself.
"Always saying I'm good for nothing but when something needs cleaning they always come to me." Knut mumbled.
"Knut!" They called out.
"I'm coming!" Knut quickly sweeps up Stella's ring sending it flying into a big pile before running after them.
Down the hall, Mirta came out of the secret passage first before looking around.
"Alright, coast is clear." Mirta said as the Winx snuck into their room.
"Thanks for the help Mirta." Flora said.
"Remember the way you guys got back. If I'm caught sneaking into someone's room I could get in trouble." Mirta said.
"You've done more than enough. Thanks for all your help." Bloom said.
"Tell Ragnar I said hi." Mirta said walking away as the Winx got searching.
"So this is the room of our 3 buddies." Bloom said.
"And my nose tells me the ogre lives her too." Musa said.
"Let's get busy, Stella's ring could be anywhere." Flora said.
"And the witches could come back anytime soon." Tecna said as they got searching. "Well this is creepy." Tecna reaches into a cabinet and pulled out a voodoo doll.
"You want to see something really creepy?" Musa holds up a baton that immediately grew spikes.
"What is with these girls?" Tecna asks creeped out.
"But where could they be at this time of night?" Stella asks.
"They must've had a party." Bloom said pointing Knut's dirt pile that he swept up. "Wait a minute, is that?"
"My ring." Stella smiles walking over and picks it up.
"Alright now that we have it, let's get out of here." Tecna said as they left the room.
"Alright what was the path Mirta told us?" Flora asks.
As they walked down the hall, Bloom stopped in front of a door and felt a strange energy from inside. "Hang on, there's something on the other side of this door, something important."
Opening it the Winx walked inside to see it was the archive room.
"What a strange place." Flora said.
"I wonder what's in these books." Bloom pulls one down from the shelves and opens it causing a bright light to shine.
In her office, Headmistress Griffin was at her desk when an alarm went off.
"Someone is in the archive room." Waving her arm an image of the Winx appeared. "Ooh the fairies have paid us a visit, let's give them a warm welcome."
Back in the archives, the Winx were looking around at all the books.
"Amazing, there must be a book on every witch and fairy that's ever existed." Bloom said.
"Uh Bloom, maybe we should get going." Tecna suggests.
"Please. Maybe I can find something that can tell me about my powers." Bloom begs.
"Alright but let's make it quick." Tecna said as Bloom looked around.
"If my book is around here it must be fairly new." Bloom said when she noticed a green book with her name written on it.
"Wait. Maybe you shouldn't read it. What if it contains your future?" Tecna suggests stopping Bloom.
"Why not? I'd love to find out what the future has in store for me." Stella asks.
"Knowing about our future isn't always good. It can reveal things we don't want to know." Tecna said.
"But I just want to know about my powers." Bloom said as she reached for the book when suddenly the book morphed into a scary face startling them.
"Uh Bloom I don't think that book wants to be read." Musa said when the book growls ready to attack them.
"Let's get out of here!" Flora said as they made a run for it.
In her office, Griffin laughed. "Aw running away so soon? But we were just having fun." Waving her hand dozens of spider like monsters appeared in front of the Winx as they ran to the exit.
"This isn't good." Musa said.
"We need some serious firepower to get through these." Tecna said when Bloom got an idea.
"How about Dragon power?" Bloom put her fingers to her lips and whistles loudly.
Behind the spiders, the door broke down as Cloudjumper, Crystal and Lagoon appeared on the other side.
Moving in Lagoon breathed scalding water at the spiders washing them all away.
"I'm starting to see why Ragnar never goes anywhere without Toothless." Flora smiles.
"Let's get outta here!" Stella said as she climbed on Crystal, Bloom and Musa climb on Cloudjumper and Flora and Tecna climb on Lagoon and fly back to Alfea.
Meanwhile at Red Fountain, Ragnar and Toothless were walking with Headmaster Saladin as he showed them the injured dragons he and the girls saved earlier.
Walking up to a Deadly Nadder, Saldain examines the wounds the hunters caused.
"Poor things." Saladin said standing up. "We don't have enough room at Red Fountain in the stables, they'll have to stay in the forests around our school."
"It's better than nothing. Toothless can you take the dragons to a safe area?" Ragnar asks as Toothless nods before letting out an alpha roar ordering all the dragons to follow him.
"Fascinating." Saladin said watching Toothless lead the dragons away.
"Uh sir, there's something important that I think you should know." Ragnar said getting his attention. "The leader of the Hunters, when we fought his sleeve got ripped and he had a mark, the mark of Red Fountain."
"What? Are you sure?" Saladin asks in shock.
Sighing Ragnar rolls up his right sleeve to reveal on his shoulder was an exact copy of the blue tattoo that the hunter had. "Pretty sure. But why would a Specialist do something so horrible?"
"Not every cadet that goes through this school makes it Ragnar, some get expelled, kicked out, or fail in disgrace. And it appears whoever is hunting dragons has gotten quite the recruits." Saladin explains.
"What do we do?" Ragnar asks.
"I don't know, but I promise you we'll figure it out." Saladin said as the two of them walked back inside.
Back in Alfea, Bloom, Stella, Tecna, Flora and Musa were walking through the halls completely exhausted.
"I can't wait to get some rest." Musa yawns.
"You can say that again, between everything that's happened I don't think I'll have the energy to go to school today." Bloom said.
"Well I guess we better call in a sick day." Musa laughs when they heard Griselda clear her throat.
"So you girls like breaking the rules, huh?" She glares as they all cringe seeing they were in trouble.
In Faragonda's office, the girls were standing in front of her desk.
"This morning I got a call from Headmistress Griffin, the head witch of Cloud Tower who says you girls broke into her school last night and used dragons to destroy the front door. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my institution, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Faragonda asks.
Bloom was about to open her mouth when Griselda interrupts.
"If I may, whatever their reason is for doing what they did their punishment should be exemplary." Griselda suggests.
"What do you mean?" Faragonda asks.
"Seeing as how these students went out without permission, I would suggest they be grounded, and their magic powers revoked until whatever date as you seem adequate." Griselda states.
"But mam you wouldn't do that. Would you?" Stella asks.
"Wouldn't I? There are very few things I wouldn't do and revoking your powers isn't one of them." Faragonda said as green magic surrounded the girls draining them of their powers.
At the stables, Bloom walked in to see Cloudjumper sleeping upside down from the roof.
"Well that's a unique way to sleep." Bloom giggles as Cloudjumper opened his eyes before letting out a soft roar making his way down. "I lost my powers today, all I wanted were answers but now it feels like I'm back to square one."
Growling Cloudjumper taps her on the head with one of his 4 wings causing her to smile.
"Well at least I have you until I get them back." Bloom smiles before petting him. "Maybe I'll figure out another way to learn more about me."